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Palladino: A worthy honor Mario Generali to be celebrated By Joe PalladinoRepublican-American

WATERBURY -- The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Waterbury will do a very good thing on April 24. At its 33rd annual awards dinner at LaBella Vista, at the Pontelandolfo Club in Waterbury, the Club hands out its humanitarian awards, scholarships to local high school students, and most importantly I think, remembers why the Boys Club made it through the good times, the bad times, and the hard times, when it honors the late Mario Generali.

There are many honorees, such as 5th district Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty, Waterbury police chief Vernon Riddick Jr., Victor Lopez Jr., George LaCapra, Stephen Lewis and Wolcott school superintendent Joseph Macary.

They are all amazing people. Nice job. Congratulations. But we're here to talk about Mario. This is important. The Club needs to reconnect with Mario Generali. It is vital. It is overdue.

Mario Generali was involved with the Boys Club for 58 years. It began in 1931 when he first walked into the Club as a bright young man of seven. His first job at the Boys Club was critical: He emptied waste baskets.

More than three decades later he became executive director. No man or woman should ever run a company or a business if they did not start out emptying the waste bins. Just a thought.

When Generali retired in 1989, he stated in a Republican-American story that his work at the Boys Club was "the only full-time job I ever had." When Generali was named executive director in 1967, he said, "Like a boy who has become a big league ballplayer, I have reached the pinnacle of my ambition."

You have to admire a man whose primary goal in life was to serve his hometown and all the young people in it. Generali's impact on the youth of Waterbury is incalculable. We have always known that. It is time, now, to remember that.

It has not been easy thing for the Boys Club to remember in recent years. There have been other issues. Rob Generali followed his dad into the director's chair. In 2011, the Club was rocked when Generali, Rob, was arrested, convicted and sent to prison for fraud and embezzlement of Club resources.

The Club has rallied. It is in its 126th year of operation. It has recovered. Now, it can heal a terrible wound.

"My first thought is that it is highly appropriate to honor my father after all this time," said Mario's son, Ed Generali, a long-time coach and educator at Holy Cross High School. "For 47 years his life was the Boys Club. It was not about the pay. It was all about his love for the kids who grew up there."

For decades a portrait of Mario Generali hung in the main lobby of the Boys Club. The portrait is still there. It will stay there.

"I think we have reached the point now that my father's legacy deserves to be carried on at the Boys Club," Ed Generali said. "His name deserves to be permanently attached to the organization.

"I, and my family, are happy to be invited to the dinner, where my father will be recognized for the humanitarian that he truly was."

Congratulations to the honorees and scholarship winners, and bravo to the Boys Club for remembering Mario.

" Mario was a giant of a man.Memories of the group clubs ,trips to Yankee Stadium in the woody station wagon,Babe Ruth baseball,softball in the gym on Cottage Place and bringing back a New England Basketball championship to Waterbury.Mario made it possible with his dedication and blood sweat and tears.An honor well deserved. "

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